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Old 29th Apr 2018, 9:00 am   #461
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Default Re: Maplin stores

Farnell's tie-up with Newark makes visible one aspect of US pricing. Components are significantly cheaper 'over there' if you can handle a fee once per order and wait a day or two.

I'd rather trade in the UK, so Farnell first RS second* then the US for things they don't have.

*back in the 80s I needed to fix my TV. open circuit voice coil. Only RS had the right size but they refused to deal with me. OK, their choice, but I still now avoid them, and I tell every RS rep that comes a-visiting. Upset customers at your peril!

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Old 29th Apr 2018, 11:16 am   #462
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Default Re: Maplin stores

I saw this on Facebook.
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Old 29th Apr 2018, 12:39 pm   #463
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Default Re: Maplin stores

OT but along a similar vein, when I announced our shop was closing, we got all sorts of (mostly negative) comments and more often than not from people you would be lucky to see once every three months.

As such, I can sympathise with the staff in the Maplin shops on that basis.

I just hope the majority, if not all, find employment elsewhere.
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Old 29th Apr 2018, 4:18 pm   #464
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Default Re: Maplin stores

Since my last order with CPC (for some cassette drive belts), I have been getting monthly "Bulk Bargains" catalogues which mainly contain electrical (as opposed to electronics: only cables and connectors) products and tools, with prices shown ex-VAT. I guess that diversifying will put them in a better trading position. The prices are very reasonable, even when you add 20% for VAT, and highlight how expensive the corresponding Maplin offerings are/were.
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Old 29th Apr 2018, 4:25 pm   #465
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I popped into Cardiff (Newport Road) store this afternoon as I was in the area. All very much the same as others have reported for other stores really. Loads of their typical electronic toys, bags of components etc but nothing that tempted me to part with money.

AA and AAA alkaline batteries down to £1.05 for four, which is still more expensive than Poundland (on the same trading estate). The ones I looked at had an expiry date next year so they are probably fairly old stock. I didn't buy any.

Three staff chatting loudly in one area, another on the checkout (with no customers when I was there) and one more wandering around aimlessly. Music (Dragon Radio, local oldies station) playing fairly loudly. Loads of customers wandering around but little sign of anyone buying anything.

There was a notice as you entered saying they didn't know when the store was closing and that no returns were accepted unless faulty.
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Old 29th Apr 2018, 4:50 pm   #466
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Default Re: Maplin stores

I was in the Stevenage branch the other day, yes the stock was low but right by the entrance was a sign for job vacancies.

Temporary staff needed, drop your CV into the store manager is what was on it.

The new Stevenage store was opened 4 months ago, not long before the company went into administration.
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Old 30th Apr 2018, 12:13 am   #467
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The Maplin website changed from active to a holding page at midnight with no possibility of placing any more orders. I will really miss the good people at my local stores when they finally close down too. Wish them the best of luck.
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Old 30th Apr 2018, 3:42 am   #468
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Default Re: Maplin stores

Yep, webpage now closed, no stock checking or anything.

A visit to the stores required now. I might have a look today to see if there is anything left.
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Old 30th Apr 2018, 6:03 pm   #469
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While having a ratch through my garage the other day I found some old Maplin magazines. I took them to work to read and they are really well presented and definitely encourage the construction side of electronics. It's a shame things didn't continue in that form. The technical descriptions and articles although now out of date were still interesting and very detailed. Maybe I am just fondly looking back at the "good old days" but they really seemed to have it sewn up in those times.
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Old 30th Apr 2018, 7:12 pm   #470
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Default Re: Maplin stores

I still have one or two of their magazine and as you say Alan, they were well put together, with the added convenience of kits for the projects that featured. But of course, it was back in an era when magazines such as Hobby Electronics, Practical Electronics, Everyday Electronics, Electronics Today International, (the latter three having merged into EPE many years ago), and Radio Electronics World were all on the magazine racks, and in their day, sold well. (Radio Constructor went I think in the late 1970s).

Cirkit, Tandy, and other well known firms such as Bonex and Electrovalue have followed the magazines into oblivion, as did Home Radio and Electroniques.

To a large extent, I don't think there was much that Maplin could have done to have improved the service to those such as us as they'd be trying to cater for a small and reducing niche market.

One of the underlying themes of this thread has been that staff are too often disinterested, ignorant and unhelpful. I can honestly say that whatever criticisms I may level at Maplin, my experience over many years in many Maplin stores across and up and down the country, from Liverpool to Huddersfield, Wakefield, Sheffield, Nottingham, Scunthorpe, Bradford, Grimsby, Putney, Kingston on Thames and a lot more, has been quite the opposite. I've found the staff obliging, courteous and helpful. What's stuck me as much as anything, is that even with the present cloud hanging over them, they're all getting on with it, keeping their spirits up as best they can, with no hint of "don't ask me mate - I'm out of a job in a months time".

As someone who spent his whole career in one company, with excellent job security and a final salary pension, I'm not sure how well I'd be able to put a brave face on if I was a guy at Maplin with a mortgage and the 'sword of Damocles' hanging over my head. Not very well at all, I think.
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Old 30th Apr 2018, 7:27 pm   #471
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I found maplin way too expensive, can't believe they even charge for a catalogue! I got stuck for some bits for a breakdown at work, they'd cost about 2quid at cpc, in maplin they were nearer a tenner, I commented how expensive they were but nobody seemed to care.
I remember a pack of 10 phono plugs in cpc was 99p plus vat, in maplin a pack of one was 99p, they were selling a lot of stuff that is only going to be used by hobbyists and people within the electrical/electronic industry, the problem is that those who would be likely to use their stores are also aware of how dear they are compared to cpc, rs, etc and buy from them instead.
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Old 30th Apr 2018, 7:42 pm   #472
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It's a fact of modern working life, the axe teetering dangerously above your head. I have been worried about it in the past, even when working in "secure" jobs, as it's always there in the background. I can't guarantee I will be in a job one or two years down the line. I don't think about it, I just get on with the task in hand. As you get on a bit in life and the financial pressures hopefully reduce a bit, you become less concerned. When working in the public sector, there is always the threat of privatisation, and when working in the private sector, there is always the profit/loss threat, or contracts expiring. Saying that, I have been lucky, and had continuous employment, although probably helped by choosing to change jobs at the right time. I still feel for anyone whose job is under direct threat though. You have to chose whether to stay on for redundancy, or cut your losses and get out if you can. Not an easy decision, especially if you have a lot of financial commitments.
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Old 30th Apr 2018, 7:51 pm   #473
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Very true, I've been crapped on from a great height by several large companies over the years, promising you all kinds then dropping you like a hot brick when it suits them, I'm currently not working due to health issues, but if and when I do return to work, I'm afraid my only loyalties will be to myself, being loyal to a firm only helps them to shaft you in my bitter experience.
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Old 30th Apr 2018, 7:53 pm   #474
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Biggles View Post
It's a fact of modern working life, the axe teetering dangerously above your head. I have been worried about it in the past, even when working in "secure" jobs, as it's always there in the background. I can't guarantee I will be in a job one or two years down the line. I don't think about it, I just get on with the task in hand. As you get on a bit in life and the financial pressures hopefully reduce a bit, you become less concerned. When working in the public sector, there is always the threat of privatisation, and when working in the private sector, there is always the profit/loss threat, or contracts expiring. Saying that, I have been lucky, and had continuous employment, although probably helped by choosing to change jobs at the right time. I still feel for anyone whose job is under direct threat though. You have to chose whether to stay on for redundancy, or cut your losses and get out if you can. Not an easy decision, especially if you have a lot of financial commitments.
Alan.
Kind of follows my experience. I'm now in the Public Sector and (as far as one can tell) reasonably secure for the time being. I started out in a good job, secure job as well but most of the time between these "end stops" has been far from secure. It's sods law that the insecure period coincided with the term of my mortgage

Times do change though and sad to say, I doubt that anyone in a non managerial retail position in the south of England will be in the position to take on a mortgage - the figures simply don't add up now with house prices being what they are !
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Old 30th Apr 2018, 10:14 pm   #475
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I'm sorry for anyone in a precarious position with their job but it's not as simple as it seems. Most people with a decent pension [in the old days] had to make considerable sacrifices in order to get it. It wasn't a hand out and you had to be prepared to part with a high proportion of you income when others wouldn't. Succumbing to guilt induced by those who have no understanding of that doesn't help anyone I'm afraid and adds to the manipulation that puts the young against the old. I worked in local Govt and my friends said come to the Factory. twice the money! I said well my job has better conditions like 3 weeks holiday and sick pay. One guy was indignant at this and felt I should only get 10 days as he did. I said you work a continuous double day shift for a year. Don't you think you should get at least a three week break He hadn't looked at it like that

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Old 30th Apr 2018, 10:28 pm   #476
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They have my sympathy too. I was with Marconi when they were going down the pan and there wasn't a lot to do except practice my Spanish by reading the on-line Spanish newspapers ( I was learning it in an evening class at the time). Fortunately by the time I was offered redundancy I had another job lined up, but it was a worrying time.
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Old 1st May 2018, 12:12 am   #477
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Default Re: Maplin stores

I will miss not being able to drive for 5 mins to the local store to buy a single capacitor or resistor that I didn't have in my stash for a repair, then back home to finish the job They did stock some cheap stuff like, 400V electrolytics for 49p each and single resistors at 9p - good for when I didn't want to buy 10 from ebay or 25 from RS !
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Old 1st May 2018, 7:21 am   #478
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Quote:
Originally Posted by emeritus View Post
They have my sympathy too. I was with Marconi when they were going down the pan and there wasn't a lot to do except practice my Spanish by reading the on-line Spanish newspapers ( I was learning it in an evening class at the time). Fortunately by the time I was offered redundancy I had another job lined up, but it was a worrying time.
I know a couple of people who are ex-Marconi and they had built up a fair amount of savings in GEC shares through a company scheme. They lost it all when the share price plunged. It's easy to look back and remark about eggs and baskets, but GEC used to be amongst the bluest of the blue-chip stocks.

I was lucky with HP/Agilent, when the shrinkage happened that hit me, the shares had been low for some time, but they rumbled along the bottom and over many years partially recovered. The salary deduction stock purchase scheme had chugged away through the low price era while I was still there, and had bought larger numbers due to the low price. In the recovery, these turned enough profit to compensate the loss on the older ones. Luck not judgement.

Someone else I know worked in sales for a photographic company, selling film-stock in Hollywood. The fall of the biggest name in photography wiped the value of his shares and clobbered his pension. Things are not as well protected over there.

I found one nasty little sting in the tail of the redundancy thing. Capital gains tax taper relief. The government want employees to partake in company share schemes as incentives to help their employer thrive. So, if an individual holds on to stock in their employer for X years, they got a discount on the capital gains tax rate from the standard rate of 40%. Once you get made redundant or retire, you're instantly no longer an employee, and no longer eligible for this relief. If you decide the firm is wobbly and decide to unload those shares while they still have some value, you get hit with 40% tax, when the day before the tax bill would have been much less.

But the people at Maplin will be without all these cushions to land on. I expect they're on the minimum legal requirement company pension and minimum if any redundancy payment. I hope they all have good luck in finding new jobs.

The firm I'm with now is steadily growing, steadily recruiting. It's taking on over a dozen people each year. For product development this has been a mixture of experienced people and graduates (usually MEng). Manufacturing roles have been filled with experienced people and also apprentices have been hired and put through college courses. Sales/marketing people need knowledge and contacts in aviation. I'm afraid these aren't good fits with the descriptions on here of the people at Maplin. If there's someone there with a driving interest in electronics and is stoking it up with getting qualifications through part time study, then they could make the jump into the electronics industry. There IS a general shortage of people. Various empires may have collapsed, mass manufacturers run away to China, but there is a strong set of small companies doing great things, and they are looking for people. In contrast, the retail sector is in general decline and has surplus people.

Agilent managed its shrinkage. It hired consultants to run courses on CV writing, interview technique, and starting your own business. The bit I remember most about the career planning course was picking target firms for your future. They strongly targeted the RBS group companies (Royal Bank of Scotland) and covered the recruitment techniques they used. Little did they know! 2009 was still 4 years away....

Good luck to all those affected.

David

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Old 1st May 2018, 8:31 am   #479
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A lazy google search brought this up:
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/...lectronics.htm

I'm sure I've seen a full digitized collection of all Maplins magazine somewhere else.
 
Old 1st May 2018, 9:40 am   #480
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Hi All,

I was amazed at the amount of unsold stock in the local maplin. Whilst some of the shelves are bare, there are lots of project boards, tools, boxes, DJ stuff and much more. Given that this is now on 50%+ discount, they still cant shift it.

To me it is an indication of how much dead stock they had on the shelves and multiplied by the number of store would suggest they has a lot of money tied up in stock that was not selling.

Hence, they ran out of cash....
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